Tuvalu, north of Fiji, claims it is sinking under rising sea-levels which have resulted from global warming.

Last month Tuvalu told the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit in Australia that it was planning to take western nations to international courts to sue them for their failure to curb so-called greenhouse gases.

But Australias National Tidal Facility (NTF) at Flinders University in South Australia, which is contracted under Australian aid to monitor sea levels across the Pacific, said in a statement that it had seen no significant rise.

NTF have had a sophisticated tidal gauge on Funafuti, Tuvalu's capital, since 1993 measuring the rise and fall of the sea level.

"As at February 2002, based on short term sea level rise analyses ... for the nearly nine years of data return show a rate plus 0.9 millimetresinch) per year," the statement said.

They also examined the historical record going back to 1978 which indicated a sea level rise since then of 0.07 mm (0.002 inch).

"The historical record shows no visual evidence of any acceleration in sea level trends."

SPACE.WIRE